Algae: Sample/excerpt from John Abbott Communications

john@johnabbottcommunications.com 707-765-9868

America’s
Next
Super Fuel?
Pond scum used to have a bad rap. Not anymore.
By John P. Abbott

I
n most cases, a sewage plant isn’t the kind of place you’d show off to
potential investors, eminent scientists or grant makers with open
checkbooks.
But the Laguna Treatment Plant in southwest Santa Rosa is attracting
the attention of eco-advocates around the country. It’s demonstrating
algae’s potential to “polish” wastewater, turn pollutants into resource-
rich methane, and—perhaps in the near future—produce biodiesel that
could fuel our cars, buses and trucks.

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 For the past 18 months, the City of Santa Rosa has teamed up with researchers from
Sonoma State University to study the use of algae to purify wastewater and, at the same
time, convert it into biofuel to help run the plant. The Aquatic Biomass to Fuel (ABF)
project hopes to demonstrate that converting algae into biofuel is a cost-effective, easily
replicated technology that can be used by municipal wastewater facilities throughout the
United States. It could be years before the technology can be used on a commercial scale,
but so far, the green, leafy globs of high-powered vegetation are doing exactly what their
caretakers had hoped they’d do—and more.
[Duncan Garrett Photography]

February 2009 NORTHBAY biz 2

 “We’re getting good data, but this is really just the start,” says
Professor Michael Cohen, a biologist at Sonoma State University
who’s been studying aquatic vegetation for nearly 20 years.
“We’ll be looking very closely at the lab results and scaling up
from there.”
With funds from the City of Santa Rosa Utilities Department,
Cohen and graduate student Catherine Hare worked with R.S.
Duckworth Construction of Sebastopol to build six narrow algae
channels next to wastewater clarifying tanks. The “crop” of floating
algae is designed to scrub wastewater, which flows through the
channels in a serpentine pattern, by essentially “eating” nutrients
and harmful components while at the same time producing
biomass—carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids (including DNA)
and lipids (some of which are, basically, vegetable oil). Ultimately,
the biomass will be fed to digesters, which are processing machines
that work anaerobically (without oxygen) to convert it into
methane-rich biogas that will then be used to generate electricity
to power the plant. Aided by grants from the Bay Area Air Quality
Management District and the California Energy Commission, an
experimental digestion facility is under construction at the city’s
Laguna treatment plant. The beauty of anaerobic digestion, says
Cohen, is that it converts all the biomass substances, not just a
portion of the lipids, into a useable energy source (methane).
“We’re learning about the operations of the channels and ways
to improve the efficiency of removing the residual nutrients to
make the water even cleaner,” Cohen explains. “We’re also
investigating how useful the scrubbers could be in removing
residual pharmaceuticals and personal care products from the
water. Rather than just treating the biomass we pull out as
garbage, we’re trying to convert it to methane and other products
we can use for energy. For instance, we’ve seen that when we put
“We’re in a position to advance the science of this for communities across the country.”
together certain mixtures—such as dairy and winery waste—we
get a synergistic reaction that produces more biogas than if we just
added them up individually.”
Cohen’s design isn’t revolutionary; the idea of applying algae to
treat wastewater has been around for decades and, he’s quick to
point out, the cumulative research on the subject is now helping
to pull all the kite strings together at the same time. But Cohen’s
use of floating mats of aquatic vegetation is a unique approach to
the process—and one of the things that makes the Laguna project
self-sufficient and,
thus, more
practical and
economical than
other alternative
energy initiatives.
The county’s
collaboration with
Sonoma State has
propelled it into
the national
spotlight. In May
2008, the ABF
project won the
National Climate
Innovation
Invitational
Professor Michael Cohen in the laboratory at Award, which
Sonoma State University [Duncan Garrett Photography] showcases cutting-
3 NorthBay biz
edge approaches to reducing greenhouse gases at the local level.
The project was recognized yet again last October, when it
received one of four innovation awards from the Interstate
Renewable Energy Council (IREC).
“This project combines the best of the best by helping us
clean our wastewater in a biological way and produce fuel for
our electric vehicle fleet at the plant,” says Dell Tredinnick,
project development manager for the City of Santa Rosa. “We’re
in a position to advance the science of this for communities
across the country.”
Although Cohen and Hare can make biodiesel from algae in
laboratory beakers, it’s too early to tell if they can produce the
same results on a much larger scale. But others are aggressively
pursuing that goal, including several companies in the greater Bay
Area (see “Bay Area Algae Companies” on page 36). The most
optimistic say algae-based biodiesel could hit the streets within the
next 18 to 24 months and be available from any retailer that
currently sells diesel. But the fact is, almost all of these companies
are still in the research and development or demonstration phase
and won’t provide specifics about their proprietary processes,
technology, production rates or energy costs.
Justifying the hype
A number of alternative energy sources have offered promises for a
cleaner, greener and more energy-secure future, but algae’s
potential seems to justify the hype. Because the algae make oil
naturally, it can be refined into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and
chemical feedstock [raw material used to produce energy] for
plastics and drugs. It can be processed at existing refineries and
manufacturing facilities, thereby eliminating the need for
investments in new infrastructure. And it can clean up waste by
—Dell Tredinnick, City of Santa Rosa
processing nitrogen from wastewater and carbon dioxide from
power plants—an especially attractive proposition given the
growing interest in carbon tax credits.
Algae—rootless, stemless, leafless plants found in pond scum,
seaweed and water—use photosynthesis to transform carbon
dioxide and sunlight into energy. In the process, some species can
theoretically produce up to 30 times or more oil per acre than
other plants used to make biofuels. They grow much faster than
plants like soybeans and corn, in some cases doubling their weight
many times in a single day, and can be harvested in coastal or
desert areas, where groundwater conditions are less than ideal.
They can eat just about anything, including wood chips, corn
stalks, sugarcane, even agricultural and industrial waste.
Wastewater from domestic and industrial sources contains rich
organic compounds that actually accelerate algae’s growth,
essentially turning a waste stream into a valuable resource.
There are some obstacles to widespread production of algae for
biofuels, however. One is finding the right type of algae, which has
high lipid content—the percentage of its cells that yield oil—a fast
growth rate and that isn’t too difficult to harvest. Scientists have
found some types of microalgae can produce as much as 60
percent of their weight in oil—some can even double their mass
several times in a single day—but only when they’re starved for
nutrients. Unfortunately, when they’re starved for nutrients, their
ability to grow and reproduce slows down. (These microalgae,
Cohen stresses, are very distinct from the algae used in the ABF
system.)
Another challenge is developing a cost-effective, controlled
Reprint from February 2009